Many companies around the world are clouded between the concepts of leadership style and corporate culture. Corporate or organisational culture is often influenced by its leadership and the smaller the company, more the likelihood. By following the culture is how to get things done within an organisation whereas customs, traditions and practices are blended with the corporate culture, system and processes. With that framework, individual leadership style impacts largely to motivate employees and departments.

1. 1.     Collective behavior & values

The perceptible elements of a corporate culture include organisation’s stories, routines, symbols and norms. Meanwhile, internal and external factors that move and shape business structure also matters. All of this takes into account the culture and delineates the purpose of company’s existence.

While sharing vision and mission with key employees is a common practice followed across the business industries, their very meaning or explanation may differ. Some corporate cultures are more outward and open as they intend to share more and more on how to reach a certain goal and long-term success factors. Others are simply too classified and believes on need-to-know basis.

1. 2.     The formal & informal philosophy

It’s obvious that corporate culture is unique to each company and two organisations operating within the same industry might operate on different philosophies.

Let’s take an example of IBM and Sun Microsystems; both manufacture computer hardware and software. When compared, one is known as Big Blue with a typical white-collar image and that’s IBM while the other one is California’s casual. One holds a history of being a regimented firm and believes in getting the job done with utmost preciseness. The latter one amazes its customers every time with its innovative and entrepreneurial solutions.

Both organisations have a relentless success record because each company along with its employees share values and business behaviours.

1. 3.     Is corporate culture an obstacle?

There exist such companies that boast about believing in its employees values but actually lay them off and escort-off their belongings via security personnel are entirely insensitive. Defining the culture of a newly established organisation and how to actually implement it is one of the biggest challenges. A training company and its culture can be contradictory at times which eventually lead towards its downfall.

1. 4.     Incorporate leadership style with corporate culture

Strong leadership with sheer level of confidence is crucial to mesh corporate norms with organisation’s strategies especially if it’s about diversity in the operational procedure. Whereas risk-aversive companies that sought innovativeness must be taught about entrepreneurial culture.

1. 5.     Entrepreneurship in a command-and-control corporation

“Command-and-control” is a term commonly associated with primary leadership style in our society and accepted because of its efficiency. Once employees are trained, the cycle goes on that makes employees and organisation as a whole stagnant and restrained from accepting change!

“Leadership by worker responsibility” is totally the opposite concept that motivates the workforce to take risk and certain challenges for career uplift and betterment of entire company. This is something common in entrepreneurial environment and while it’s possible to be an entrepreneur or a mid-level leader, this isn’t at all easy.

To survive in the long-run, leader must adapt a dual lifestyle and have the potential to take multiple tasks, encourage their subordinates and move along with the latest trends relevant to the corporate culture.

1. 6.     Move with enthusiasm

A good leader adapts multiple leadership style depending on situations. It’s possible that one employee might be completely self-motivated, independent and requires less supervision while the other is entirely contradictory. Therefore, leadership must be all-inclusive and entirely motivating

Conclusion

It’s clear how leadership style and corporate culture are related to each other but that doesn’t mean you jumble up the two concepts. The details above must’ve removed the blurry line among the readers.